168 CLASSIFICATION OF [CH. 



A weed of cultivation, said to be poisonous to cattle, a possible 

 explanation of which may be found in a fimgus recently discovered 

 as a very constant inhabitant of the tissues under the seed coats. 



Lolium temulentum, L. (Fig. 48). 



Palea ovate, 6 — 7'5x2'5mm., papyraceous, inflated, 

 smooth, the tip dry and emarginate with a slepder 

 sub-terminal awn its own length or longer. It tends to 

 adhere to the fruit. Fruit .3'.5 — 5 mm. x 2".5 x 1"5, some- 

 what depressed. Rachilla large, cylindrical and smooth. 



L. perenne has no awn, or the merest trace of one. " Seed " 

 10 — 12 mm. long. Boat-shaped. Palea yellow, three-nerved, 

 margins papery. Eachilla fiat, see p. 143. 



** Awn terminal, and with no evident teeth at 

 its base. 

 = Palea not much inrolled, ovate-lanceolate to 

 linear-lanceolate, and therefore boat- or barge- 

 shaped. 

 A T'e/-y hairy. 



Brachypodiimi sylvaticum, Beauv. (Fig. 72). 

 Palea ribbed and hirsute much like that of Bromus 

 asper, but straw-coloured, shorter (10 — 12 mm.), linear- 

 lanceolate, more boat-shaped, and tapering without teeth 

 into the longer (]0 — 13 mm.) hairy awn. Caryopsis 

 7 — 8 mm., less flattened than in Bromus, with a shallow 

 groove. Rachilla smooth. 



B. pinnatum (p. 171) has a much shorter awn, and is nearly 

 glabrous. 



These grasses are weeds, but are said to occur frequently as 

 adulterants. 



AA Glabrous or nearly so. 



■^-^ Palea five-nerved, pubescent. 



Agropyrum caninum. 



